advertisement

Ask CNET Asia

Find Products

  • Brand
  • Processor
  • Filter »

Buying Advice

DIY Projects

CNET Features

 
 Print    Email     Bookmark     Share

Top 10 dot-com flops



Take me to: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10

2. Pets.com (2000)
Another important dot-com lesson was that advertising, no matter how clever, cannot save you. Take online pet-supply store Pets.com. Its talking sock puppet mascot became so popular that it appeared in a multimillion-dollar Super Bowl commercial and as a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. But as cute--or possibly annoying--as the sock puppet was, Pets.com was never able to give pet owners a compelling reason to buy supplies online. After they ordered kitty litter, a customer had to wait a few days to actually get it. And let's face it, when you need kitty litter, you need kitty litter. Moreover, because the company had to undercharge for shipping costs to attract customers, it actually lost money on most of the items it sold. Amazon.com-backed Pets.com raised US$82.5 million in an IPO in February 2000 before collapsing nine months later.

 

 
« Webvan.com | Kozmo.com »

    Talkback
There are currently no comments for this story.
To post comments, you need to become a member. It's FREE.
advertisement